At the dead of night, wisps of green smoke curled around three incense sticks, gathering into a haze. Kneeling before the altar, he trembled as the tip of his tongue formed the forbidden true name, “Erebus.” Candlelight reflected the solitary courage in his eyes. He sought no worldly fame, only a remnant of breath from the underworld and a divine flame in the depths of despair. With a body on the verge of death, he called out to an unnamed god, hoping to borrow the power of an ancient deity to tear apart the golden seal of fate and seize a sliver of hope in the cracks between cycles of reincarnation.
